The Tea Maker
by ThePoisonOwl
Summary: 50 years have passed and Hatter didn't go after Alice. He is given a special tea that will make him young and bring him back to her. Based lightly on The Alchemist by Mike Lombardo. Read and Review! Rated for langueage.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: It's been fifty years since Alice left Wonderland and Hatter didn't come after her. Hatter is given a way to fix his biggest regret and goes after his little Oyster.

Chapter 1: I'm Going to Find You

It had been fifty years since Alice left Wonderland. Fifty painful years since I didn't go after her. No, I decided to stay with my precious tea shop. And I had regretted it since the moment she fell through the looking glass. My Alice, my girl in a very wet dress was gone forever and I could never see her. The looking glass was out of commission for good and so was my heart.

Hatter handed Ratty a bottle of excitement.

"You know the drill Rats, one drop at a time or you'll explode, not on an empty stomach, and so on and so forth. " Hatter said, annoyed with the older man. "Glad I could help you." He shouted sarcastically as Ratty scurried out of the office, bowing his head.

"Pathetic." Hatter huffed as he sat back in his white leather chair.

He let his thoughts drift back to the one time when Ratty's presence was welcomed. Silence filled the room as memories filled his head.

In his mind, he could still see her as she was that day. Alice, standing in this vary office. She was very, _very_ wet. Her cornflower blue dress clung to every curve perfectly. Her hair was soaking wet, dripping little droplets on to the grass carpet. She was gorgeous.

"Alice," he said aloud. "Why did I let you go?"

In his mind, he could see her walk up to him, lean across the desk and kiss him sweetly. Something that they had only come close to when she was actually in Wonderland.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ducky, the sleepy little man from the front room entered the office.

"Hatter!" he exclaimed, as if trying to wake his boss. "You won't believe this new tea! It's magical!"

"I'm sure it is nothing, Ducky." Hatter scoffed as he picked up his newspaper.

"Hatter, it reverses the time line of the drinker. It _literally_ brings you back in time without paradoxes. You would be you, the only you, at that point in time. Its incredible!" Ducky explained. "It will make you young again."

This caught Hatter's ear.

"Oh really?" he asked, truly curious at the idea. Being able to go back in time, age back to how he was fifty years ago. He could go back to Alice. He could follow her through the glass. An idea was taking shape inside his head.

"Yes sir!" said Ducky, answering his boss.

"Well then, let's have it. I own the shop. I get first try at all new products." Hatter said, walking over to try and remove the small man quickly from his sight.

Ducky handed the glass to his boss and then left the room.

"Night Hatter." He said, leaving the room.

"G'night." Hatter said absent mindedly as he stared at the golden liquid in the bottle just given to him.

Hatter returned to his chair and contemplated actually taking this new tea.

"Since she left, a day hasn't gone by without her haunting my every thought, every decision, breath and every bit of my consciousness." Hatter said, holding the glass up to the light.

He places it on the table, scrutinizing the tea that could change everything for him. He could have her. All of the heartache that filled him with every breath could finally be no more. Though, there was another way.

Hatter walked slowly to his shelves, looking at one of the smaller bottles. Inside it was the coppery liquid of guilt. By taking the whole thing, he could just forget her. He could forget Alice. But he was scared. He didn't know how it would feel to not have her in his consciousness.

He took the bottle and went to sit back down at his desk. He ruffled his now gray hair and stared intently at the two bottles. One could reset him and bring him back to her. The other could erase all of this.

"Alice." He thought continuously as he thought about what to do.

"Take it. Follow me down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass." Alice's ghostly voice fill his head, urging him to take the chance and go back in time. "Do it."

"Alice?" he called out. She sounded so real but alas, she was not. "Fine."

Hatter took the time reversal tea into his hands, standing.

"No. I can't. I have responsibilities." Hatter said, nearly slamming the glass down. He sat back down. "But, I'm afraid what might happen if I just forget. I'm afraid what would happen if she weren't in my head. But she wouldn't have to be if I were with her." Hatter placed his head into his hands and took a deep breath.

"You would think that after _fifty_ years, she would be a bump along the road like the others. But she wasn't like the others. I had loved and lost before and since her but no one has done for me what she did. What Alice did." Hatter thought to himself, finally making a decision.

He stood from his chair and sauntered to his closet. He pulled out the old coffee colored leather jacket he wore when she was with him and one of his noisy floral shirts. He put them on and topped his look off with his woven hat.

He took the time tea into his hand and walked up to the full length mirror, looking at himself with a truly happy smile.

"I'll take this man and make him young again." He said, looking at the liquid as it sloshed around in its container. "After fifty years of shit and waste, I would give anything for five minutes beside her and that is what I can get now. I will go back and find her. Alice, I'm gonna find you. I am going to correct my mistake and find you. I will come after you this time. I will go with you. Alice, I love you." Hatter said, putting the glass to his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Forget You

Hatter took the bottle away from his lips, having second thoughts.

"After all of this time, I didn't forget her but… but what if she forgot about me. It has been fifty years. Though I am still yours, you may not be mine." Hatter spoke with a wisdom to match his years.

He sat on the grass of his office and gently placed the bottle in front of him. Maybe he should just forget about her.

"Your shadow was always there, sitting with me, lying with me… being with me. Watching me day by day… you were always there and I couldn't forget you." Hatter looked at his desk and the bottle that sat on it. The temptation was staring him right in the face. All he need to do was let three drops sit on his tongue. She could be gone.

"I could be free. I could not just sweep my memories under the carpet but have them _truly_ erased. But what kind of life would that be, eh Alice? What kind of life would I lead if I had turned away from such wonderful things?" he said to himself, looking back to the mirror.

Hatter shook his head, knowing exactly what he had to do now. There was no other choice. He had to go back to her. Everything just hurt too much here and he was a coward for not just erasing her. No, he could never forget you.

"I just couldn't forget you. The moment that you came in here, I was destined to be tortured by thoughts of you." Hatter said. He stood back up, glass in hand and prepared himself for what now lied ahead.

"She'll be all yours… I think. You loved her. All you have to do is go through the glass. That's it. Nice and simple. And then, she is all yours… if she wants."

Hatter looked into his own faded brown eyes knowing that next time he looked at them, he would be fifty years younger and going after her. Alice was now just a swallow away.

AN: Sorry this chapter is so short! Remember to read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Choice and The Journey

This was it, the moment of truth. He either needed to do it now or just give up. I will never feel pain like this again. It is that easy…

Hatter stood from the ground, taking the bottle with him.

"This is my savior. This tea is what can save me now and that is all." He spoke softly with a small quiver in his voice. "I only have this once chance to rewind these past fifty years. This… one… chance."

Hatter put the glass to his lips and tip his head back, swallowing all of the liquid in one gulp.

"That's it. The chips are all down and my new future is only the past that lays inside me. It's all over now." He said, dropping the glass to the ground and watching it break into seven pieces.

"I'm coming Alice… I have to at least know that I have tried." He said before a strange feeling filled him up.

Hatter fell to his knees, gasping for air. He was changing. He was going back in his own timeline. He had actually done it.

He watched as the past and present unwound before him. He watched as past lovers came and left the office, as customers took what they wanted and left. He watched all of it, knowing that this would be the last time. After the moment passed, it would not exist anymore. He was changing his future. He was changing everything and all it took was one gulp.

Hatter looked at his old hands. Their wrinkles were disappearing. They were smoothing out and going back to their glory. He reached a hand into his hair and pulled it straight out so he could see. The grays were going away. His dark brown hair was returning. He was truly becoming young again.

As his world swirled around him, it began to slow and he saw Alice once more in his office. It was right before she went to the hall where the mirror was stored.

"Come with me." She pleaded. She wasn't begging but this is what she wanted. She wanted him but things were… complicated. "Please."

"Alice," Hatter could hear himself say. It was almost painful. "I… I want to but I don't think I can. And believe me I really, _really_ want to go. You are everything to me." He said as he took her hands in his.

"Hatter, I love you." Alice whispered into his ear as they came together in a hug. Tears were forming in Hatter's eyes as well as Alice's.

"I guess…" Alice said as they broke away. "I guess I better be going."

"Yeah." Hatter said. The world's swirling was coming to a stop. The older version of himself got off the floor and walked behind what was about to become all of him.

"Go after her." He whispered to himself.

"Bye." Alice said, sadness oozing out of her voice as she walked out of the room. The door closed and the world stopped.

Hatter took his placed inside himself. The journey was over and this was his time. He needed to make things right. He needed to go after her and he needed to be with her.

AN: Again, sorry about the shortness!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Without

Watching Alice walk out of his life, for the first time that day and the hundredth in his life time, Hatter ran after her. He jumped over his desk and darted out of the office.

"Alice!" he shouted over the loud and annoying tea heads in the show room. She's gone. Again. "Ugh…. Fuck, fuck, fuck." He shouts before running out of the tea shop and to the mirror hall.

He ran as fast as he could down the walkways of the city, nearly tripping over his own feet.

"I can't mess up again. I have to find her." Hatter thought, mentally yelling at himself.

After five minutes of running, he reached the hall. It wasn't crowded but there were a decent amount of refugee's in the room. And from the outside, he could see her. He could see his Alice.

"Alice." He breathed.

He quietly entered the room, adjusting his hat to make himself seem neater or something.

"My dear boy," Charlie said upon seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came for Alice. I need to find her Charlie." Hatter said, skimming the people for her.

"Well, she's at the front of the room with the soon to be king. I'd hurry if I were you Hatter." Charlie said, patting his younger friend on the back.

Hatter moved through the crowd until her found her… in the arms of Jack. And she looked happy.

"Shit." He thought. "I was wrong. She didn't really want me. She's always been his."

He began to walk away, beaten and not remembering why he was here. There was something, the reason he had come up with from long ago to why, that brought him here. And it was gone.

"Hatter!" Alice exclaimed when she saw him. She broke away from Jack and ran after him. Repeating his name when she reached him. "I thought that you weren't coming. I thought…"

"Hello, my darling." He said sweetly, catching her off guard. He simply stared at her, unsure of how to continue. "I-I mean, hello Alice. I… I decided to come see you off." He shook his head. Wrong. "I came… oh fuck it. Alice, I want to go with you. I need to. I can't exist without you anymore. Trust me, I tried."

"Hatter." She said softly. He pulled her into him in a hug. Hatter held her like she would fly away at any moment.

"I missed you…" he whispered into her hair. "It felt like years since I had seen you and I missed you. I just wanted to be beside you."

Alice looked up into her knight's eyes and knew all of his words were true and meaning full. Somehow, he was different though she couldn't tell how.

"So, you're coming with me?" Alice asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Alice, I can fly when I am here with you. I can turn iron to gold." He looked into her eyes. "Alice, did you know that I was left without you… because—"

Alice stopped him with a kiss. "I know." She said simply. There was something in her that made her completely understand him.

He rested his forehead on hers and spoke his heart to her.

"It must have been only moments in your eyes but I was stuck here without you and… and I came for you. The world was just too cold without you. I need you in my life Alice. And god forbid that I am _ever_ left here or in your world without you. I don't know what I would do. Alice, I love you."

Alice just looked at him for a moment before pulling him into a passionate kiss. It was the one that was always meant to be. This was the one that had been brewing since they met. Everything was leading to this very moment.

"I love you too." She whispered. And they were both silent. There were no more words to be said. They were all out on the table.

"Alice!" called the mirror operator. "It's time."

Alice was pulled away from Hatter with a bit of force but her followed, unwilling to let her go. He would not be stuck without her.

"Ah, Hatter, what are you doing here?" asked Jack, standing next to the operator.

"I'm going with Alice." Hatter said bluntly.

"Ah," Jack said with a smile. "I figured you would. Here." He finished, handing Hatter a large envelope. "You'll need these."

"Thanks." Hatter said, slightly grateful and unaware of what was given to him.

"Remember, deep breath." The operator said.

Alice gave one last look at Hatter, took a breath and then was pushed through the mirror. Hatter followed only seconds after. He would never be separated from her again. He would never be without her. Ever.

End.


End file.
